The 298-room Miami Beach Edition soft-opened a few weeks ago but is now revving into high-speed opening gear this week, thanks to the Art Basel festivities.

Here are a few snapshots of an ocean view king room at the hotel. We'll have more photos and tidbits about the resort for you tomorrow, including a peek at the already-infamous Basement ice-skating rink and bowling alley, the Matador restaurant from Jean-Georges Vongerichten and a few words from Ian Schrager himself.

Oh, and you're gonna want to see what's in the minibar. It might be the best hotel minibar we've ever seen. Ever.

Bagatelle, a popular restaurant brand that originated in NYC's Meatpacking District before expanding to Sao Paolo, St. Tropez and St. Barth (with a brief stint in Las Vegas), is now heading to Miami Beach. But instead of opening another hot restaurant or beach club, owners Aymeric Clemente and Remi Laba are opening a restaurant + hotel + pool club, called Villa Bagatelle.

Located at 21st and Collins in the current Boulan Hotel, Villa Bagatelle will take about 18 months to fully open. The first phase of the renovation is happening now, with a cosmetic touch-up of the hotel's common areas and guest rooms. The rooms are actually all suites and have at least one bedroom with a deluxe Tempur-Pedic bed, a fully equipped epicurean kitchen with dining areas, living room with queen-bedded sofa bed, and oversized marble spa-inspired bathroom. Some suites have private terraces with either views of downtown or the ocean.

The second renovation phase will transform the rooftop pool deck into a "complete Bagatelle St. Tropez experience" with a full service food and beverage concept. The courtyard at the hotel will also transform in to The Bagatelle Gardens where guests can enjoy breakfast, light lunch, dinner, coffee and cocktails. Is that Bagatelle enough for you?

You can actually stay at the hotel now, although the Villa Bagatelle branding is not complete. Rates start around $379 a night but we found a suite king in a few weeks for $289 a night.

Last we checked, the Thompson Miami Beach was opening on November 14 but that opening date has been moved just a little bit back to November 21. However, the hotel is now offering a special opening package that starts at $399 a night, based on double occupancy, and includes the following:

· Minimum two-night stay in plush accommodations
· Daily breakfast for two at Seagrape, the restaurant from Miami's own Michelle Bernstein
· Signature welcome cocktails for two
· Beach swag bag with Coola sunscreen products, including body sunscreen, facial sunscreen and moisturizing lip balm
· Admission for two to Perez Art Museum Miami, so you can get a jump start on all the Art Basel festivities.

Miami and Las Vegas have become sister cities of a sort. Both are well-known for their robust hotel scenes, their penchant for partying, their "less is more" credo when it comes to clothing and their general love of excess.

More recently, we've been seeing an influx of South Beach in Sin City, thanks to the opening of the SLS Las Vegas and the Delano Las Vegas. But now, Vegas is sending off something to Miami--Michael Mina'sStripSteak restaurant.

Stripsteak can be found in Vegas at Mandalay Bay, where the Delano Las Vegas also lives, but Mina plans on spinning off StripSteak Miami at The Fontainebleau sometime this fall. Mina already operates the Michael Mina 74 restaurant at the resort so he's already familiar with the property. StripSteak will replace Gotham Steak restaurant. We'll keep you updated on the opening date. In the meantime, peruse the StripSteak Vegas menu for a hint of what's to come. We'll take the 10oz filet mignon, the truffle mac n' cheese and one, make that two, orders of the potato gratin please.

Located at 4041 Collins Avenue in a former condo building, the newest Thompson Hotel will have 380 hotel rooms featuring "beach-inspired accommodations and mid-century, international resort style." Designer Martin Brudnizki has been working on the design which will (of course) preserve the building's Art Deco flair and 1950s architecture.

And as we mentioned back in May, the Thompson will also have two pools, a small spa, three bars , including a speakeasy in a bungalow, and a 267-seat "classic brasserie" from James Beard Foundation Award-winning chef and Miami native Michelle Bernstein.

Room rates for November 14 are rather reasonable starting at $314 for an advanced purchase rate (no refunds) and $339 for a regular rate. That would be for a deluxe king room with custom-made 400 thread count SFERRA linens, rain showers in the bathroom, oversized Frette terrycloth robes, a 42” flat screen television with movie library, a gourmet mini-bar and a 24-hour in-room dining service.

Below is a snapshot of a model room, as posted on the hotel's website....

The latest Starwood hotel to hit Miami won't open until March 19, 2015 and judging by the pictures, we're even a little skeptical of that date. Yet it is interesting to see how Aloft is updating the old Motel Arkana, keeping much of the motel's existing structure but also adding another tower adjacent to the lot. (See the rendering on the Aloft Miami Beach website to get a better idea of how it will look.)

We got the email alert in our inbox today (although it was announced on Facebook yesterday) and quickly clicked over to the site. There we discovered that while the hotel will "premiere" in November, rooms aren't actually available until January 19, 2015. (UPDATE: We've been told that the hotel is definitely opening in November and that the reservations will get moved up as the opening date gets closer.) For now, rates on that opening Monday in January start at $579 a night for a standard king room. Someone pass us the smelling salts.

The beachfront property on (way north) Collins Ave was set to open in December but that was quickly pushed off until March. Then we sort of lost track. But now we've got word that it's really open.

The 10-story Art Deco building has 231 guest rooms and suites spread out over Cabana-style buildings, hence the hotel name. Most of the rooms will have balconies from which you can gaze at either the sea or the pool. We dig the orange stripes and the cheeky photograph of two ladies fishing.)

In-room amenities include 42-inch flat-screen TVs, walk-in showers, large work desks, room service from 6am to midnight and complimentary WiFi (well, it's part of the $20 resort fee. ) Also onsite are two pools; the Brasserie L'echon, an all-day dining spot; a lobby bar and both a business and fitness center.

Right now, room rates this weekend start at just $199 a night for a room with two queen beds. Gotta love Miami in the off-season!

The Miami hotel scene shows absolutely no signs of slowing down and now there's another big name in boutique to add into the mix--Thompson Miami Beach.

Thompson, under its former owners, tried to make the Hotel Victor their original Miami hotspot but the brand's new owners, Commune Hotels and Resorts decided to attach themselves to a different project.

Located at 4041 Collins Avenue in a former cone building, close-ish to the raging hotspot that is the Fontainbleau, the Thompson Hotel will have 380 hotel rooms featuring "beach-inspired accommodations and mid-century, international resort style." Designer Martin Brudnizki is in charge of the design which will (of course) preserve the building's Art Deco flair and 1950s architecture.

The Thompson will also have two pools, a small spa, three bars and a 267-seat "classic brasserie" from James Beard Foundation Award-winning chef and Miami native Michelle Bernstein.

The Freehand Miami won over HotelChatter contributor JetSetCD last year with their "funky fresh" hostel rooms and amenities, all at a very reasonable rate ($21 a night for a shared bunk room when JetSetCD was there) And it looks like other folks have been equally impressed because the Freehand just expanded its property.

The hostel acquired the building next door and has opened it up as the "Guest House" with nine Private King Rooms, five King Suites (a new room type) and one private Bungalow which can sleep four.

The Guest House is accessible through the existing Freehand courtyard so the lobby, the Broken Shaker bar and the pool aren't very far away at all. It's also across from the building that will house the Freehand's restaurant, which still hasn't opened but we're hearing it should debut later this year.

Rooms in the Guest House start this weekend at $60 for a dorm room and $224 for a private king room.

At long last and a few delays, the Metropolitan by COMO in Miami Beach has opened its doors (on March 3rd to be exact.) And it wouldn't be a hotel opening without a Facebook page showing off some opening photos.

All in all, the beachfront hotel has just 74 rooms with interiors done by Italian designer Paola Navrone using "pastel pink and sea-foam green" which sounds like it could be terribly wrong but actually looks so perfectly right. Simple but definitely stylish.